Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: unknown

In the midst of a storm, Jesus comes to the disciples, walking across the water. Already a bit on the edge from the storm, the disciples see Jesus coming and they think He is a ghost. This terrifies them further and they cry out in fear. Sometimes I find myself in a storm. As Jesus draws near, at times it scares me too. I sense Him drawing near and wonder what will be prune away or changed in me to keep me out of the storm the next time.

Jesus responds to the disciples’ cries and fears saying, “Take courage! It is I. Do not fear”. It is a familiar line to me. I can picture Jesus with a slight smile on His face as He says it. This is what I picture as He comes to me in my storm. The smile says, “This may hurt a bit but it’ll be good for you”. Again those words: Take courage! It is I. Do not fear. I have plans to prosper you, to bring you good.

Peter’s response is interesting. Immediately he says, “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water”. He asks to step out into the rough water, out into the danger. He doesn’t wait for Jesus to finish coming to the boat, but instead wants to meet Jesus someplace out there in the tumult. For most of us it is an odd choice. We like to hunker down where we are at and wait for Jesus to come to us. Peter does not consider the risks – he just wants to be closer to Jesus sooner. If only that we’re our default choice. If only we would be so eager to step into the risky and unknown and unfamiliar just to come closer to Jesus sooner. If only we sought Jesus as much as Peter did. If only.

When we are willing to step out for Jesus, we too will hear those words echo: “Take courage! It is I. Do not fear”. May we trust in the Lord and respond faithfully to His call: “Come”.

Almost everything about “the end” is unknown. Personally, we do not know in advance the date on which we will draw our last breath. As a faith, we do not know the date that Jesus will return. We do not know if this will be during our lifetime or if His return is thousands of years away. We simply know that one day Jesus will return to make all things new.

In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of the unknown nature, saying only God knows the time. Even this is unclear. Does this mean God has a date marked on the heavenly calendar or does it mean that only God will know when the time is right for Jesus to return? In either case, Jesus’ advice is the same: keep watch, stay ready. For emphasis, the passage ends with, “because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him”. One will be taken, one will be left.

If this passage is not a call to live each and every day as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ, I do not know what it is. Jesus came to earth to reveal what God is like. Jesus came and walked and lived among humanity to show us what God’s love looks like lived out in the flesh. Jesus came to show us what it looks like to daily love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and what it looks like to daily love neighbor as self. And He said, “Go and do likewise… make disciples of all nations…”

As disciples of Christ, we yearn to be more and more like Him every day. We study the Bible, we spend time in prayer, we participate in small groups and in classes, we worship regularly – all to get to know Jesus better. All this to keep watch, to stay ready. Each day is another day to know Jesus more and to share Jesus with more people. Each day is one day closer to when we meet Jesus face to face. Each day, may we continue to be God’s love lived out in the world. Each day, may we shine the light, ever walking with Jesus.

The Book of Hebrews seeks to connect the Jews living under the old covenant to the new covenant ushered in by Jesus Christ. In today’s passage the author explains that the old way of animal sacrifices only cleans that outside of a person but that through the new sacrifice, through the blood of Jesus, we are cleansed on the inside. We are reminded that we are cleansed so that we can serve the living God.

Throughout Hebrews is this idea of ‘living’. We are exhorted to have a living faith that is guided by the Spirit and not bound by manmade rules and laws. Living by the Spirit can feel dangerous and wide-open. Living by religion can feel safe and known. But too often ‘religion’ is typified by rigid practices, by entrenched traditions, and by requirements that feel a lot like laws. Like sheep tightly confined to a pen, religion asks one to go through the motions, to check off the boxes. Religion becomes little more that Sunday worship and an occassional prayer.

By contrast Hebrews call us out of our old ways of living by religion and into new way of living by faith. Faith is guided by the Spirit. The Spirit moves in unexpected and surprising and unknown ways. For typically neat, in-the-box people, this is scary. Religion with its known boundaries is safe. Jesus did not call us to religion, but to faith.

When Jesus sais, “Come, follow me”, He did not say where or how or when. He simply said, “Come.” He knew that the Spirit would lead. May we each step out, take ahold of the hand of the Holy Spirit, and see where Jesus takes us today.

The famine passes in Judah and Naomi decides to return to her homeland. She urges Orpah and Ruth to stay in Moab, to remarry, to start life over again. It is certainly within the realm of possibilities – both are young enough to do so. To go against Naomi’s wished and to instead move to a foreign land would be a risky and challenging move. Naomi knows this as she herself made the same type of move just ten years ago.

Often we too are faced with a similar choice – to stay in the comfortable, know place or to step out into uneasiness and the unknown. It is easy to stay comfortable. Orpah chooses to stay with her people. But Ruth decides that she will go. Her love for Naomi makes her willing to be that stranger in a foreign land.

Where is your ‘foreign land’? Is it taking the time to sit and have lunch with the homeless person who asked you for $5 for lunch? Is it going to that part of town to replace the kitchen faucet for a single mother with lots of young children? Is it going to the jail to visit and share the love of Christ with an inmate?

Ruth said to Naomi: “Where you go, I will go.” Christ calls us to go to many places where His light is dim and His love is unknown. But He always goes with us. May we, like Ruth, say to Christ and live out those same words: Lord, where you go, I will go.

Today is “Native American Day” in my home state. I think in every state except South Dakota that today is “Columbus Day.” I do not know the reasoning that went into the name change and shifting the focus of the day, but I think it is cool. The Lakota and Columbus both tie into a theme found in Psalm 104 – discovering something amazing.

Psalm 104:1 calls for us to praise God who is great and who is clothed in majesty and splendor. For the Lakota and many other indigenous peoples, there is a holy connection to the Creator and to all of life. They see the Creator God in all things and in all of life. God ‘pulses’ through each creature, mankind included. The Creator is the life force. In my Lakota friends I see the wonderful way that they have of continually discovering God and His goodness in people, nature, and so forth over and over and over. It is awesome!

Columbus set out into the unknown to try to find a new way. As Christians we often wrestle with our faith and in knowing the unexplainable God we worship. As we walk along on our journey of faith, we often encounter the unknown or that which we cannot give a logical explanation right away. Yet with time in the Word, in prayer, in study, and in meditation, we can often find a way to either a new place of faith or to a place where we are comfortable again with God. Often we are also reminded of how immeasurable and big our God is. This connection builds our faith as well.

In Job, God tells him to brace himself. Sometimes I think we are like Job in this. When we are willing and open to God and where He wants to lead us in life, sometimes I think I need to brace myself. To trust and step into this unknown takes a lot of faith and trust. God asks Job (and us) who was there when the foundations of the earth were laid or when the cornerstone was set. God reminds him and us that none were there except the stars and the angels! It is good in this story to remember that God was there before the beginning, at the beginning, is here now and will forever be. Praise indeed for the God of the universe and the same God that walks and connects with us daily so that we can discover and grow in our faith.